Firefly

[LadyBrower]

Just from the way in which the crew uses the word, I figured it had to mean something like that. So, it fits...since that hose is a piece of shyte!

Nice picture. I almost didn't recognize Anara without the long hair and Companion makeup. But...I hate her anyway. No one should be that beautiful, 'cause it's just not fair to the rest of us! LOL

I surely do wish they had made more episodes of that series.

*sigh* I wish they could bring it back... there is such a cult following. Granted I can watch the series (and the movie!) over and over and over again, it would be ever so lovely to have some new episodes to watch.

Hubby seems to think that just because something has one of actors from the show in it I'll like it. Well, he's usually right. LOL. But it's still not as good. *sigh* But I must say, "Inara" made an excellent bad guy (woman) in Stargate.

[michaelsbagley]

While it is no where near as good as Firefly, Nathan Fillian's new show "Castle" is pretty good. I've been enjoying it immensely... But then I have always been a bit of a sucker for murder mystery shows.... Specially ones that can use humour.

[William Brand]

Anyone here attending a CSTS (Can't Stop the Serenity) screening this year? I'm hosting one in Logan which promises to be a huge bash. There's a real possiblity that we might get Sonny Roades to perform at the event. He's the blues singer that sings "The Ballad of Serenity" at the beginning of every episode.

[Ransom]

Forgive my ignorance, but how would I find out where and if there would be a CSTS screening close to where I live...not that I wouldn't love to attend your bash.

I confess, I haven't been to the Firefly web site, which may explain why I don't know anything about the screenings. Prolly should go there first, yes?

As a side note, the more I watch the series, the more I find myself going back to Shindig, if I only have time for one episode. There are just so many little interactions in that one that crack me up, or are so moving. Kaylee (in that dress!) "questioning" the buffet table. The look on Mal's face when he says "A swhat?" Badger's brag about "You couldn't get an invite, even if you had a diamond the size of a testicle. But I got two." The little interlude between Badger and River. Jayne's comment,"That's just the kind of diversion we could have used." The interplay between Mal and Inara when she's trying to teach him to fight with a sword. It's just a "Mighty fine shindig!" LOL

(I may not have gotten all the quoted lines completely perfect, but close enough, hopefully. I'm really bad at remembering exact dialogue.)

[William Brand]

http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/

There are 43 cities doing a screening this year, so chances are there is one near you. It's a lot of fun. I helped run the event last year and did all of the promotional artwork for the screening in Salt Lake City.

[LadyBrower]

Forgive my ignorance, but how would I find out where and if there would be a CSTS screening close to where I live...not that I wouldn't love to attend your bash.

I confess, I haven't been to the Firefly web site, which may explain why I don't know anything about the screenings. Prolly should go there first, yes?

As a side note, the more I watch the series, the more I find myself going back to Shindig, if I only have time for one episode. There are just so many little interactions in that one that crack me up, or are so moving. Kaylee (in that dress!) "questioning" the buffet table. The look on Mal's face when he says "A swhat?" Badger's brag about "You couldn't get an invite, even if you had a diamond the size of a testicle. But I got two." The little interlude between Badger and River. Jayne's comment,"That's just the kind of diversion we could have used." The interplay between Mal and Inara when she's trying to teach him to fight with a sword. It's just a "Mighty fine shindig!" LOL

(I may not have gotten all the quoted lines completely perfect, but close enough, hopefully. I'm really bad at remembering exact dialogue.)

"Maybe this is my kinda party"

That's my FAVORITE episode. "You wanna slinky dress? I'll buy you a slinky dress... Captain, can I have some money for a slinky dress?"

(maybe not exactly right either)

[Ransom]

Here's a link, just in case anyone else was in the dark, like I was.

CSTS Info

[Ransom]

Here's a link, just in case anyone else was in the dark, like I was.

CSTS info

[William Brand]

Did anyone here purchase a town in the upcoming Atlas of the Verse? There was a charity auction of towns and I organized the Utah Browncoats to buy a little place on Hera not far from Serenity Valley. We named it Utah. It has a nice western ring to it.

All the money goes to Equality Now. http://www.equalitynow.org/

[LadyBrower]

I've been watching Firefly all day as I have been frantically trying to finish my sewing projects for tomorrow when my roommate (Kian McBrian!) walked in and said, "Oh no, not Firefly again"

Do I watch it too much? No. It's just a great show to put on when I need to sit down and do stuff. It's entertaining and I've watched it enough that I don't have to pay attention too closely...

Oh, and Serenity is showing on Sci Fi tonight at 8 EST. =)

[Ransom]

Did anyone here purchase a town in the upcoming Atlas of the Verse? There was a charity auction of towns and I organized the Utah Browncoats to buy a little place on Hera not far from Serenity Valley. We named it Utah. It has a nice western ring to it.

All the money goes to Equality Now. http://www.equalitynow.org/

LOL Are you on the Firefly hotline? How do you find out about this stuff? Then again, I'm not a web-crawler (I mean that in a nice way!), so I miss out on a lot of stuff.

Hmmm. a little place on Persephone, maybe? Then I could have "my girl" whip me up a nice dress for the next Shindig.

[LadyBrower]

"Persephone ain't home, too many people we need to avoid..."

[Commodore Swab]

So what is this show?

[Ransom]

You can rent the series DVDs at Blockbuster, if you want to see what it's all about. Firefly is the class name of the spaceship the crew travels in. It's not about aliens, ray guns, etc. It's more like cowboys in space. Real guns, horses, mixed cultures, and smuggling. Lot's of fun and some really great dialog.

[William Brand]

You can watch them online at Hulu.

http://www.hulu.com/videos/search?query=firefly

[LadyBrower]

So what is this show?

Looking at your signature you must be joking... Because there is no way that is a coincidence.

[Ransom]

Oh, jeez, I can't believe I missed that! LOL

[William Brand]

I was bored today, so I wrote this up and posted it on FireFlyFans.net...

The following observations are the rantings and ravings of a Firefly fan with too much time on his hands. I'm having a slow day. Sue me.

When Firefly came out in 2002, the available materials on the subjects of canon were very limited, but for those few things displayed on screen in what can only be described as a very irregular broadcast schedule. Fans that were fans from the word 'go' clamored to understand every little detail of the Verse, for there is no fan like a Firefly fan. One of the issues that arose early on, perhaps more among the prop-making uber-fans than anyone else, was the question concerning the symbols and emblems of the Independents. One of the earliest to pull ahead in the race of prominent symbols, especially among us Browncoats, was the patch (and the later theoretical flag) of the Independents.

At first, the most prevalent example of the patch (the ever-present star and bars) was that one which appeared on the coat worn by actor Nathan Fillion as he portrayed Mal. Mal is seen wearing this coat in two important battles in the series. Indeed, it is the first easily viewable appearance of the patch, though it is actually shown on several soldiers before Mal appears in the scene. Because of this, it was, and often still is assumed that the patch is intended to be worn as it is shown on that coat alone, as if no other coat exists. More rabid fans that were blessed to actually record the sporadic airings of Firefly, noticed that not all of the soldiers in those scenes wore the patch in the same direction. A few people commented on this seemingly confusing wardrobe issue, but it did not circulate widely amongst the early fans.

As time went by, more and more of us became interested in the limited fan based collectibles of the Verse. At the time, there was no official Blue Sun shirt, no Jayne shirts, and almost no real merchandise to speak of. Still, even in the merchandise infancy of the Verse there was a fan based interest to possess all things Firefly. The patch of the Independents remained in the forefront among many popular coveted items, so several aspiring fan-capitalists created early renditions of it. Each of these possessed the traditional star, yellow bars and green background, though many showed the star as black. As the output of homemade and mass produced patches became available, the question of orientation began to spread. Some cried,"Star point down." Some cried, "Star point up." Many fans created mythologies that were not mentioned in the original writing at all. And the debate (although mostly subject to personal interpretation) went on.

Strangely enough, many of the people most interested in the answer to this question agreed equally that the best way to resolve it was to get the answer directly from the horse's mouth. Or in other words...from Joss himself. People on both sides of the question agreed that if Joss were to answer this question, the debate would end and all Browncoats would accept this final authority in full, as one might have expected them to do.

Not so.

When the Companion volumes for Firefly were released to the public, Shawna Trpcic stated that the star was always intended to be worn star point up and triangle point down. Shawna Trpcic was the series costume designer for Firefly. She is the designer that created the patch for the Independents. Indeed, she created the entire look and feel of their uniforms and the vast majority of costumes for the series. Essentially she's the Betsy Ross of the Browncoats, but this fact proved unimportant.

Some said, "She's just a designer, not the creator of the show."

Some said, "She designed it, that's the way it should be."

More unusual than either of these two responses was the prevailing third response. The supporters of make believe. These are the ardent fans that are so loyal to Mal as a character, that they endow anything related to Mal as an extension of Mal. That is to say, anything about Mal is gospel.

You see, Shawna Trpcic explained that Mal is seen wearing the patch upside down because of a wardrobe mistake. Nothing more. Nothing less. Someone working within the wardrobe department sewed it on upside down. The coat specifically created and aged for Mal's character just happened to bear this mistake. This means that by shear luck, Mal's coat is wrong. This news seems to have had no effect on the staunch supporters of the wardrobe error. In fact an entire mythology about Mal's choice to wear it in this fashion has pervaded the fans of Firefly for years, with several strong reasons heading the list. These mythologies, once appealing during the time of the unanswered question, now continue on by momentum alone. They are perpetuated in complete disregard for the original creator and fans of Firefly repeat them with a hushed reverence in a headstrong attempt to make the mythology of an error into something more substantial.

In short, Mal made the decision. Not the misguided seamstress. Not fate. Mal.

Where are those fans that said they would defer to the word of Joss? Tim Minear (executive producer), Gareth Davies (producer) and Joss himself all signed off on Shawna Trpcic's designs, but this has made only a marginal difference in the opinions of the fans themselves. Instead, we've created new questions. Are we Browncoats or Malcoats? All of the other Browncoats in the series are seen wearing the star point up, as intended. Therefore it stands to reason that a Browncoat is one who wears the emblems and accompanying symbols of the cause of the Independents as a whole, thereby supporting the veterans and fallen soldiers of the Independents, rather than adhering to the cause of single soldier.

Can canon exist where canon is refused?

Yes. I'm rambling at this point, and yes, I recognize that this is far less important than the issues of unemployment and world hunger, but humor me. How many people out there are star point up and how many are star point down? The questions keeps appearing in various forums, so let's get a headcount. Let's see where people stand on this altogether trivial matter before I wax fan-pseudo-philosophical again.

I need to lie down.

And before anyone from the 76th gets their costumes in a bind, relax. As I've stated elsewhere, a battalion or regimental patch is different as it represents a smaller group of the whole, not the whole itself. Therefore, the patch of the 76th can have the star upside down, borrowing the emblems of the whole to define their own unique place within it.

[LadyBrower]

I LOVE IT! You made my day with your philosophical ramblings.

I have to say one of my first thoughts was of Shindig, when Inara and Mal are fighting:

Inara: "Mal, you always break the rules. It doesn't matter which "society" you're in! You don't get along with ordinary criminals either! That's why you're constantly in trouble!"

Mal: "And you think following rules will buy you a nice life, even if the rules make you a slave."

It definitely touches on the idea that Mal's character doesn't go along with any established rules. It's all very interesting and it's why we all idolize him. He's so contradictory and human, it makes him a great hero.

(hmmm, can you guess where I stand on the argument) It is certainly an interesting study to be sure. Thanks for sharing.

[William Brand]

For those of you into prop making, there's a great new forum here...

http://www.fireflyprops.net/

[William Brand]

This could be a marketplace post, but since it touches on Firefly props, I'll put it here. I'm selling window vinyls of the Blue Sun, TG Freight and round Alliance logo. If interested, please contact me via private message.

[William Brand]

Guess who is working on art and props for a fan webseries in the Verse. Yeah it's me. This is why I'm never here of late. Too busy building props.

http://www.bigdamncourage.blogspot.com/

[Captain McCool]

There are not enough tears to shed, nor enough words to express my love of this show and my anger at its being given the axe, then stubbornly never given the chance to make a comeback. There is no justice in the Verse. I'm guessing it's an Alliance plot to put down the growing Browncoat movement. Or maybe TV execs are just dicks.

Anyway, kudos on the fan series. Super shiney. And now, thanks to the masthead of your blog, I really want a replica of Mal's pistol. Gosa.

Edited February 7, 2010 by Captain McCool

[Guest]

OK...OK.... So I have a copy of Serenity, and have seen the first episode...

Last May, someone told me that you could watch all of the episodes on the internet, but it wasn't until last night that I finally did a search and found this...

http://www.thewb.com/shows/firefly

So I watched; Our Mrs. Reynolds, Jaynestown and Out of Gas.... I'll watch more this week.

[William Brand]

Anyway, kudos on the fan series. Super shiney. And now, thanks to the masthead of your blog, I really want a replica of Mal's pistol. Gosa.

The most accurate model of Mal's pistol is now being finished by a prop builder out of England. They're calling this replica the 47A. all metal cast parts in brass with a walnut grip handle.

You don't even want to know how much it will cost, but it's too damn beautiful for words.

http://www.fireflyprops.net/viewforum.php?f=35